Follow Your Dreams - Schoenberg and Clearly Besotted Stamps

Hello Everyone! How are you all? Can you believe it's almost time for another Clearly Besotted release already? I do appreciate them quarterly now though, as I actually get the chance to play with the ones I bought in the last release before the new one comes along.

I made this card at around 5am one morning when I really could not sleep and my head was swimming with a million and one things, so the best thing to do was to go and craft.

This is a card I've been thinking about since my stamp sets arrived and it finally made it onto paper, or card for that matter. It's inspired by one of my favourite pieces of music, Verklarte Nacht by Schoenberg. I've taken a bit of a liberty as it's a string quartet, so no flute, but they worked so well together I couldn't not have them.

I started by stamping the two figures onto Copic friendly card stock and then masking them off with masking paper before stamping the tree background on top. I love the magic of removing the masking paper!! I then coloured them with Copic markers, using three yellows for the moon shining through the trees. 

I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp and adhered it to a white card blank with foam tape. I stamped the sentiment on the bottom with VersaFine Onyx Black.

Thank you so much for visiting me today, and for all your comments. Happy shopping when the time comes ;)

Masking a Scene with Clearly Besotted Stamps - VIDEO

Hello everyone! How are you all? I'm back to share a card I made for my Dad's 70th birthday. It was the perfect excuse to use my uninked vikings from a recent Clearly Besotted Stamps haul (don't cry, they'll be back in January!).

Yes - I had to add in Sven as well! My Dad doesn't have a big ginger beard (his brother does, however!), but he does have three girls, so here we all are making him feel loved.

I started off by stamping and then masking my viking children using my MISTI. I then stamped Sven on top and removed the masks - I love how something so simple can create a great scene.

I then did some Copic colouring before die cutting the card and adding in the sentiment from Mama Elephant's Photo Bomb set. I then popped it up on foam pads and adhered it to a top folding A2 (US) card base covered with Lawn Fawn plaid paper.

You can watch the video here or on my YouTube channel:

Below is a list of supplies that I used to make this card. Please note I do not use affiliate links.

Clearly Besotted Hip Hip Hooray	Viking	Mama Elephant Photo Bomb	Tonic Titanium Fine Control Scissors	Hobbycraft Clear Acrylic Stamping Block 10.1 x 7 cm	My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Mini	Memento Tuxedo Black	Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy
Copic Markers	*Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets	Simon Says Stamp SHAPES WITH STITCHES SetSS160 In Stitches	Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine	Tonic Studios Maxi Guillotine	Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid 6x6 Paper Pad	A4 Super Smooth White Card - 250gsm - 100 Sheets	Martha Stewart Mini Scoreboard

InLinkz.com

Before I sign off, I just wanted to let you all know that The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge starts its 6th outing on 1st November - I hope some of you are planning on joining me again - it's good fun!

Thank you so much for visiting today. Have a fabulous weekend whatever you are doing :)

Shell-abrate

Happy Friday, Crafty Friends! So we're up in Scotland on holiday and I find it's hard to have a day go by without crafting something now, but it has been nice having a break from the usual routine and seeing family and friends. 

Onto my card! I made this a couple of weeks ago using my current favourite stamp set, Newton's Nook In Slow Motion. When this set was released, I saw a fabulous card by Taheerah Atchia on their blog which had used loads of masking using the little envelope stamps. I thought I'd have a try and make a birthday card for a friend.

Supplies: Newton's Nook In Slow Motion Stamp Set; Ranger Dye Inks; Various Copic Ciaos; Lawn Fawn Let's Polka 6x6 paper pad; Fun Foam; Post It Notes (for masking); Memento Tuxedo Black Ink; Double Sided Super Sticky Red tape

I really like how it turned out, especially the masking of the worm and the envelopes. I started by taking some Copic friendly paper and cut it to size (9x14.75cm) to fit across my card blank. I drew a light pencil line at 2.5cm so I had something solid to stamp on and the critters didn't go all wonky. I stamped the tortoise and then got to masking out my pile of letters. I used both little letters and stamped them 5 times on sticky post it note and cut them out and started stamping and masking, stamping and masking until I got the colourful little pile I wanted. Here's a little picture during the process. The paper at either side of the image is to protect it from smudges - a little late, as it got a couple of thumb prints on it before I put it down :(

I then masked the edge of the pile and also stamped a little party hat next to it and masked it off. I then stamped the worm as if he was peeping out of the pile of letters. Cute!

I then got to colouring with my Copics. I do really like these, and am trying to get in as much practice as possible, but I need to get a few more in green and blue. Once they were coloured in I stamped the sentiment in the corner and also trimmed the panel to get rid of the thumb prints. I then stuck some LF paper on the card base and attached the panel with fun foam and red tape. 

I'm amused by the results and hope you are too! As always, thanks for visiting, I really do appreciate it, and any comments you leave. Have a great weekend, as always!

Sloth-some

Hello! A post mid-week from me to get in to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - I think I have about 15 hours left! I saw it was Furry Friends and Newton's Nook and as part of my happy mail last week from Make the Day Special was my first set from them - In Slow Motion - I couldn't resist.

I love this set - I've already used it once to decorate an envelope! - so I thought I'd use the sloth - how can a sloth not be a furry friend?

[Supplies: Newton's Nook In Slow Motion; Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Square Lawn Cuts; Memento Tuxedo Black; Versa Magic Hint of Pesto; Ranger Dye Lily Pad; Memento Cottage Ivy; Derwent Artist's Pencils; Caran D'Ache Prismallo Aquarelles; Copic Ciaos]

I had to look up a picture of a sloth on the internet to work out its fur. I stamped the sloth a couple of times to try out what media to colour with. The final result was a strange mixture of Copics, water colour pencil and coloured pencils. The body was coloured in Copics (E57 with C2 on top), with white water colour pencil on the top; the face, claws and branch were then coloured using coloured pencils. 

Here's a little close up of the fur - I think it works quite well!

I then fussy cut him out. I also made a mask of the sloth and then the leaves on a post-it note and cut them out. 

I positioned the sloth post-it on the card and got to stamping the leaves with some of my greens - Versa Magic Hint of Pesto; Memento Cottage Ivy; Ranger Dye Lily Pad - and masking off the ones I wanted to stand out.

After removing the masks, I positioned where I wanted to emboss my stitched square around the sloth, and then stamped the sentiment on the inside. I then ran it through my Grand Calibur - I need to emboss my dies a lot more. I really like the results.

Normally I'd pop the cut out piece up on foam, but I decided I'd like a more one layer card - it's much cheaper on postage! - so just used some double sided tape.

I'm quite impressed I managed this today, but my 4 year old helped me by sharpening my pencils and doing a bit of colouring beside me while her sister had a long nap. 

Thanks so much for reading! Hope your week is going really well.